[For Sam] Urban Fantasy AU

[lonered]

Keith can't get the image out of his mind -- the tall, striking man with the strangely two-colored hair and the eyes the clear and endless gray of the sky after a storm, caught in the light of the full moon, like the entire world is about to glow with it. It's almost a memory, he thinks, and that's why he can't let it go. He's never had a memory of his lost time before.

It doesn't make any sense. Why this man? He's seen him before, of course, around town. He's rather hard to forget. But this is something more than that, something more than a strange and inconsequential dream cobbled together from pieces of his subconscious and an attractive stranger. It has to be more. Whenever he dreams, after all, he only dreams of running, of the night air and the scent of the woods and the moonlight spilling over the world.

It's the first lead that he's had, and it's in this strange town that he can't seem to make himself leave. Keith doesn't know exactly how he's going to find this man, and the only plan he has is to keep an eye out. But life and luck are kind today, and in the coffee shop, just as he turns from paying for his caffeine, he finds himself staring at the man walking through the front door.

Violet eyes snap wide, and for a long moment Keith can't do much else but stare. He's still staring when the barista is calling his name with his drink. He turns to gather up his coffee, holding the cup and going back to staring at this man, as if he's trying to decide how to best approach him that won't immediately chase him off. 'I had a dream about you and the moon.' would probably make him sound crazy.

But he has to say something. He needs to put answers to this. The fugues, the lost time with no memories, waking up in places he doesn't expect, or waking in his bed somehow more exhausted than when he went to sleep, it's been growing worse lately. He needs answers before it drives him crazy.

So for now he just stares.

Comments

[spaceforged]

The day after a full moon always leaves the pack restless and he can feel their unease in the back of his mind as he makes his way down the street to the local coffee shop a block from his apartment. He hasn't shared with them what he saw last night.

He can't figure out how to tell them that the man they've seen wandering around is an alpha werewolf. He'd been on the fence about looking for one that didn't have a pack. He can soothe the pack but he can't do the things an alpha can.

They'll never fully settle under him.

The bells on the shop door jangle in a familiar way. The cute guy that is nice on the eyes behind the counter greets him with a smile. He smiles back and pays for the coffee already waiting for him. It pays to be the local vet. As he turns to glance around he meets the eyes of the very same man he met last night.

It's different from last night. There's that unmistakable air of an alpha but it isn't the stare of one demanding he obey. He matches him stare for stare then breaks it as easily as he might break eye contact with anyone else. He pointedly walks to the side door leading to the outside tables and holds it open, meeting his stare again and gesturing he come out to join him.

It's all he can do to make this private. Most people don't sit outside this early in the morning. He takes the table in the far back unsure if the other wolf will follow him.

[lonered]

Keith manages to mostly not startle when he Shiro turns and meets his eyes. He holds his gaze level, just as surprised when the man looks away. He's still watching as Shiro turns to go, half ready to follow him. And then Shiro goes and gestures for him to do exactly that, and Keith finds himself confused all over again.

But he doesn't hesitate. Good. This is what he'd been hoping for, isn't it?

He moves to follow along after, outside into the relative privacy. That's probably for the best too. Keith makes his way over to the table, dropping into a seat across from the man, not entirely sure how to begin this conversation. "I..."

Good. Great. Try again Keith. "I saw you yesterday."

[spaceforged]

The first sign something is off is the Alpha's body language. He moves quietly and with confident strides but his expression doesn't match it. Shiro sips his coffee to hide a growing concern forming in his mind. His wolf usually an observer sits up and watches.

"You did." He agrees as he sets his drink down and meets his eyes again. The wolf he had seen looking back at him from those eyes still isn't there. "You caught me just as I was going off shift." He takes another sip. He's the only wolf in their pack that can take on an unknown alpha. Better to be the target if it comes to that.

But his gut says it won't. "You look better than you did last night." It's not entirely true. He looks less like he's made of moonlight and shadow. A man instead of a wild creature. "...Call me Shiro."

[lonered]

There's a restless presence at the back of Keith's mind, one that stalks and prowls and paws at the doors that Keith doesn't even know he has, not in any conscious way. But he knows it makes him feel unsettled, like sitting is somehow the unnatural thing to do at the moment.

His fingers are wrapped around his coffee cup tightly, and he watches the other man across the table. "Shiro," he echoes with a nod. "I'm Keith."

Well, that's certainly a better start. He frowns though, breaking eye contact now, brow furrowing as he considers. "I don't really remember it. Yesterday... last night I mean." His frown deepens and he looks back up. "I know this sounds weird, but I was hoping I could ask you..." he trails off, shaking his head again. "A few things, I guess."

[spaceforged]

His wolf is wide awake like he always is when someone needs the gift that makes him a decent leader of a pack with no alpha. He keeps his grip on his coffee cup loose and looks down into it. "I have a few questions to ask you too. ...I'll do what I can to help you."

Keith. He repeats the name inside his mind. He finally has a name to this strange alpha. "Don't worry about anything sounding weird. I'm used to the strange." He points at himself with one metal finger.

[lonered]

His eyes flicker to the metal hand, considering, before nodding. Used to strange is good, considering that Keith is genuinely not sure what he's asking. That's the real problem here. He doesn't know what he doesn't know, only the vaguest size and shape of the gaps in his memory.

"I'll answer if I can." It only seems fair, and Keith is willing to play fair if Shiro is willing to help. Even that is more than he's used to having.

"I remember seeing you last night and then... it starts to get blurry. I remember you. And the moon..." and even as he says it, he can see the image again, that clear, pure light, Shiro's face, and then the world suddenly dropping away. "And then nothing. That's what usually happens. I have these blackouts." He winces as he says it -- it's the sort of thing he doesn't talk about. "Just this time that I lose, and I can't remember any of it. The latest one was last night. And you were there so... what happened?"

[spaceforged]

His eyes widen slightly as the implications hit him like an open-handed blow. Some werewolves lose themselves to the wolf. It's always started by blurry memories being the wolf even in human shape.

It's usually the eldest of them. But one can never tell a werewolf's age from their looks. Shiro considers what to say then he speaks. "I was heading home. I started to pass the park and felt eyes on me. You were staring at me." He looks down at his metal arm and rubs his wrist.

"I didn't see the point in hiding myself so," Shiro looks up at him. "I stepped out into the open." He could tell him what happened next. But... "You have never remembered any of the lost time? Nothing at all?"

[lonered]

Keith frowns, nodding. That matches up with what he remembers, but Shiro stops at the part where he loses track, and Keith can't help but wonder why. Did something happen? Did he do something?

That's one of the fears, of course, of what things he may be doing in these moments where no memories form. He takes a sip of his coffee to try to give himself a moment to gather his thoughts -- which is a challenge given that they're racing around in his head at speeds too fast to keep up with.

A shake of his head. "Nothing at all." Though, that's not true is it? "Sometimes... it's more like flashes than an actual memory. The moon shining on the branches of a tree, running through the darkness. Something howling." Something... something so close that he thinks sometimes it has to be him, but that makes no sense, "Even those images are new. They started only recently."

[spaceforged]

...how old is this one? Did he lose himself or is he a wolf that doesn't know what he is. He wants to know. Shiro forces himself to take a sip of coffee. His wolf makes people feel safe around him. Wolves that are uneasy can talk in front of him.

He never tells them that his change had been forced on him and not that long ago. "Did the images start when you came here to this city?" It would make sense. If this alpha has been wandering a pack even if he didn't know them could be as grounding for him as it is for them.

[lonered]

It is easy to talk to this Shiro, which should be strange. But somehow it only feels like a relief to actually be getting some of these things out. Much of it is the sort of secrets that have been kept close and silent for his entire life, for fear what it might actually mean.

Keith blinks at the question. "Yeah. Right around when I first got here." And then, he adds, with a frown. "I hadn't planned on staying, but every time I think about leaving... just never seems like the right time."

[spaceforged]

He still can't tell this Keith's age. But he gets the impression he has lived without knowing what he is. How could the wolf and man run so separate and not be...like him? Peace bringers.

"...Let's review. You don't remember your time under the full moon. Once you came here to this city you started to remember. Last night you remember seeing me." He says as he takes out a notepad and writes it down. "...have your moods seemed to stabilize here? If you look back at what 'dreams' you had from after those blackouts. What's the most common thing? It's the moon and running, isn't it."

He could have been more careful with his questions. But that wouldn't allow Keith to realize he has a fair idea of what's going on. He meets his eyes without looking away. "Come back to the park with me. Your trail should still be there."

[lonered]

Eventually it'll come out that he's exactly as old (as young) as he looks, just into his twenties.

Keith nods in agreement with each point as Shiro makes it. The other man has it straight to the point. And then the questions comes. Keith's eyes widen faintly, but he nods again. "Yeah. More level, I guess. It's hard to describe it."

He looks down at his coffee cup. "Running and moonlight. Everything should be dark, but I can see clear as anything..." Keith sips his coffee before looking up to Shiro. This man knows something. He has to. The things he's saying all strike too close to him to be any sort of coincidence or bluff.

Sitting up straighter, eyes widening again as he realizes how long and how levelly that Shiro is holding his gaze. People don't do that. They never have. "Yeah. Yeah, okay. The park."

[spaceforged]

He gets up from his chair and finishes off his coffee. After checking for messages on his phone, he shuts it off and pockets it. "We'll walk there. It isn't that far and my bike is at my apartment." He'd walked here. It feels safe to admit that to Keith. As much as part of him wants to protect this man he feels...grounded around him.

He puts it out of his mind as he stuffs his hands into his pockets and heads for the back fence to let them both out onto the back street. The back ways out of the cafe are rarely used. At this hour they're deserted. "You can ask more questions." He says when they're on the deserted back street.

"Anything at all."

[lonered]

"Walking's fine," Keith agrees and moves to stand. He's still watching Shiro uncertainly. Keith isn't used to being at ease around anyone. Hell, he's not used to people being at ease around him either. It's strange, but not uncomfortable.

The back way, huh? That's fine. He prefers the back way, the lesser used ways. They've always felt more natural.

His hands slip into his pockets as he lopes along with the other man, looking up at him. "I'm still waiting for you to answer my first question. I just want to know what happened last night." And so many nights before that. "And why do you know all of this? Have you seen it before?" The real question though, the one that comes to mind because Shiro hasn't answered the matter of what happened. "Is it bad?"

[spaceforged]

He blinks and stops walking to stare at him. Keith had asked that hadn't he. Normally he doesn't forget that sort of detail. But he'd been worried and the worries had been centered on whether or not he'd have to murder this man to protect the city.

It hits him how badly he doesn't want to. No one has made him feel this settled and...safe. More importantly, he doesn't like that kind of finality. Keith deserves a chance first. "Sorry, there's a lot on my mind this morning." He says, at last, a little breathless and embarrassed. "It isn't bad, Keith. It's just hard to describe to..." He trails off and scrubs his face.

"I know it all because I've dealt with that." He breathes in sharply and once again he can see it in his mind's eye the cage. The stone table. Hear the chanting and smell the smoke. the sweet sickening aroma of rot. Only his dreams in that cage had been of blood and death. Of tearing fangs and pain. The moon's light had been the only soothing thing he'd remembered.

Why he says it, he'll later examine but he feels safe enough to say. "You're the only other one I've run into that has the same gaps I did. ...it got better when I met the others. Just like it seems to be for you." He shakes his head and turns away, walking on with his hands still in his pockets.

"How old are you, Keith? Does any of this sound like you heard it somewhere a long time ago?" He sounds and looks as young as he is. Just a twenty-five-year-old doctor that learned the monsters are out there and he's one of them.

[lonered]

Keith doesn't know what to make of that. It's still a dodge, it's still far from the answer. And shouldn't it be simple, just a matter of stating the facts of whatever had happened once his memory blurs out. Then again, no, he doesn't think it's that simple, somehow.

He sees the way Shiro's breath changes, the shift in his demeanor, and before Keith realizes what he's doing, he's stepping forward, intending to set a hand against the other man's shoulder. Touching isn't usually something he does with any ease or regularity, but somehow it felt right. Still feels right. "Are you okay?"

The next words send his heart tripping over itself in its race to beat faster. Not the only one. Shiro's experienced this too? Is that even possible? Maybe that's why he remembered him, felt drawn to him? Some shared ground that on some subliminal level he recognized?

He falls back into step with Shiro. "Twenty-one. And... I don't think so."

[spaceforged]

Shiro finds himself leaning into the touch to his shoulder. The tension he associates with his terrible memories of the first year he was changed are still there. Yet, there's ground under his feet when normally he has to find it alone. "...bad memories." He says quietly as they make it to the corner behind the park.

The scent of growing things lets him put himself to rights and he looks back at Keith. "...you've been like this all your life?" How? "I'm alright. I've been like this for...a few years.I was twenty one when it started." He almost said when I was changed. He bites it back and heads for the park.

He smells Keith's trail even before he reaches the back opening. Any werewolf with a brain would know Keith had been here. His scent is everywhere and it's strong. "I'm twenty five." He adds almost absently. "...how does your memory of me last night end? Just seeing me with the moon then...nothing?" He asks abruptly as his mind is made up. There's no one here.

No one but them. He could change now and let Keith know what he is. What they both are.

[lonered]

"As far back as I can remember." It's been a constant in his life from the very beginning of his memories. His father hadn't wanted to discuss it, ever, always telling Keith that he'd explain everything when he was older. He never got the chance though.

So he's almost desperate to know what is going on, and the answers feel so close. Everything Shiro says has him certain that this man has the answers he needs. Maybe he ought to worry about following a stranger out into a deserted place, but Keith isn't afraid. He never really is; he knows how to take care of himself, if it comes to it.

"Yeah. You were standing there, and the moon was rising and then it all just..." Keith shrugs. "I lose it." like so much sand slipping through his fingers.

[spaceforged]

He nods, unsurprised by Keith's reply. His wolf trusts this one and to his surprise he finds he does too. This is someone he wants to get to know better. Much better. He walks out to where Keith had been standing with the wolf yellow eyes and turns to face him. "You stood here just like this. When you saw me, you-"

His changes always come fast. Whether because of how he was turned or what he is, he doesn't know. One moment he's a man, the next a massive black wolf is struggling out of human clothes and stands before Keith with light blue eyes and a blaze of white on its forehead. He pricks his ears forward leans down to drag his clothes out of sight.

His phone falls out of the pocket and he paws that under a bush. Then he sits down and waits.

[lonered]

Keith watches, waiting and holding his breath even if he doesn't realize he's doing so. This is it. This is the moment. Something in him knows. The wolf, that other presence that always lurks but that he doesn't know enough to name, it's awake now, pacing restlessly at the back of his mind, ready. Ready to finally be known and understood.

His eyes widen as suddenly the man in front of him is no longer a man, and instead a wolf. That's...

"You're..." He starts, but the words don't come. It's impossible. Nothing like that can be real. But the wolf in him reacts again, and Keith feels a triumphant howl in his throat that wants to be voiced. He swallows it back.

"That's impossible. You're..." He takes a breath. "I'm..." there it is. The wolf in him surges in triumph. Violet eyes flash with a sudden, intense lupine gold, and he manages to find the words, "A wolf."

[spaceforged]

Shiro glances around. Still no one around. It hits him then his clothes are in the bushes and he has to change back to talk. He looks skyward. He's not usually embarrassed about his body.

But Keith just figured out he's a werewolf. The wolf finds it rather amusing. He's an attractive werewolf what's the problem?

He sighs and gets up, shoving his large body into the bushes and drags his clothes further in. He changes back and pulls on his underwear as he calls over his shoulder. "Werewolf. I knew born werewolves existed but, you're the first I've ever met."

He pulls his pants on and shoves on his shirt. "You changed and ran, that's all you did. I followed you for a bit. Let's take this back to my apartment. I can discuss all the things we don't talk about out in the open." He pauses as stuffs his phone back into his pocket. "It's up to you. I won't force it."

[lonered]

Keith watches Shiro head into the bushes, blinking a bit when he changes back. In the bushes. Oh right because he's naked. Got it. And now his imagination is going a bit wild with that. Keith slams the door on those thoughts immediately.

It's easy enough because the wolf is awake now, and for the first time they're occupying the same space, both looking out the same eyes. And that's right. He's a werewolf, born a werewolf. And if Shiro's never met another born as a werewolf, then he knows those who have been made. Shro was made.

"That's all. All right... then I..." turned. He turned into a wolf. The wolf inside him comes about as close to laughing as a wolf can. "All right. Your apartment. I have so many questions."

[spaceforged]

His shoes are back on as he steps up and walks out of the foliage. "It's not far. I'll answer all I can." His wolf normally doesn't like anyone not pack in his home. It's a reflex left over from seeing the apartment as the only safe space in the world.

He turns and leads the way back. "Yes, you-" turned. "A little smaller than me but, not in presence." That is a lot complicated topic best left for later. "...have you seen a loud-mouthed Latino around that seems to have an issue with you that you don't understand?"

He might as well explain Lance while he's at it.

[lonered]

Keith hasn't considered that it might be any sort of concern that Shiro invited him over, but then Keith has never had anywhere to call home, not since his father died. He wanders and wanders and wanders, and this town is the first place that ever really drew him in, made him feel at all like staying.

So he falls into step beside Shiro. "Not in presence?" What does that mean, Shiro?

The mention of said loud-mouthed Latino has Keith's metaphoric hackles rising, eyes narrowing. "Yeah, I have." His voice is a growl, and he looks over at Shiro. "Pain in the ass won't lay off. It's the wolf thing?"

[spaceforged]

His face goes carefully blank. He'd called it. He hasn't had the desire to step on Lance's neck and truly do the alpha thing. He has all the instincts of an alpha werewolf but none of the dominance. Lance usually backs down to him.

And he's met Lance's stare before. "You're more dominant than he is. He has an inkling of that but you had no idea what you are. Now. It will be a very different story." Oh boy, would it.

He's almost sorry but Lance has had this coming for a long time now. He warned him not to mess with strangers and to only report what he sees. Shiro leads him up a flight of stairs around the side of the building straight up towards the top floor. "Wolves rang from more comfortable following. To strong wills with a heavy amount of dominance. You're the later. That's why small animals can't handle you around. And most people drop their eyes."